Friday, February 5, 2010

While in Vegas, I had a marvelous steak lunch at the Strip House, located in the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Along with the beautifully aged steaks, we enjoyed two stellar sides.

One was a potato dish called Potatoes Romanoff, which Executive Chef John Schenk says he learned from his mother back in Buffalo, NY. I've posted the written recipe for Potatoes Romanoff on my American Foods site, in case you want to give it a go.

The other was my favorite non-potato steakhouse side dish, creamed spinach. Since creamed spinach is one of the side dishes I have to do for the cookbook, and since I haven’t had a new video up in a while, I decided to film this recipe while its creamy deliciousness was still fresh in my mind.

There is only one real secret to great creamed spinach…you have to really squeeze out all the water after you wilt it. If you do, the buttery béchamel sauce coats the spinach to form a thick, satisfying pile of greens that you can almost stand a fork up in. If you don’t, you will be amazed at how the water from the spinach turns your thick, tasty sauce into a pool of pale green disappointment.

Creamed spinach is an easy recipe, but it used to require quite a commitment to make, since washing and picking spinach is tedious and really no fun at all. Nowadays, big bags of pre-washed, baby spinach are common at the supermarket, which makes this recipe a snap. Enjoy!

68 comments:

Ha, John, it's so funny that you posted this side dish today. I visited your site earlier today looking for an inspirational side dish idea for the steak dinner I was making for guests this evening. Sadly, I didn't find anything (not that you don't have any other great sides but nothing jumped out at me) so I ended up creating my own. I did a mixture of roasted beets and asparagus with balsamic vinegar, topped with slices of chevre. It turned out really well but I would far rather have had creamed spinach!! It's definitely on my list for our next steak dinner.

I once owed a friend a big favor so I took him to S.F.'s House of Prime Rib. I couldn't believe the cart, creamed spinach, etc..

Fast forward: Made this creamed spinach for the kids tonight (crazy delicious). When the kids asked me what else we were having, I told them, "Just watch, a man will be here momentarily with a cart... you'll see." We sat in my kitchen for almost 3 hours, no man, no cart. The kids were crying.

BTW Chef, you've had me sold on using real nutmeg. It's totally different than the dried powder, like you've said. But I've noticed it comes on really strong and use only just a little. Good stuff. Still no cart, though.

I tried this dish tonight and my sauce became lumpy right after adding the milk in.

I was wondering if I put the wrong amount of butter in.

I am from Singapore and I am not sure how much is 1 stick of butter. I google it and was told that it's 8 tablespoons. Should I get 1 cube of Butter and just throw the rest in after using 1st tablespoon?

yum! just tried making this tonight since i had some baby spinach. it turned out perfect and super velvety!! i also threw in some left over diced bacon at the end too. thanks for the recipe chef john! its delicious!

Me and my family looooove it! So wonderful, creamy and delicious! We will be making this for our big family get together next week for Thanksgiving!! Triple the ingredients! Thank you SOO MUCH for teaching us how to cook this wonderful dish! :D

Me and my family looooove it! So wonderful, creamy and delicious! We will be making this for our big family get together next week for Thanksgiving!! Triple the ingredients! Thank you SOO MUCH for teaching us how to cook this wonderful dish! :D

OK, I'm not a huge cooked spinach fan. I've gone to friends houses and choked down a few bites of both regular and creamed spinach just to be polite.

Today I was having family members over for a prime rib dinner and knew they liked spinach, so I decided to try your recipe. I thought I'd put it in the toast points to make it palatable enough for me to eat with them. After a pretty big dusting of S & P an tasting it right out of the pan....

I have just recently found your site and I am going through your recipes. I have tried your recipe for the onion rings and for the buttermilk deep fried chicken. Both are fantastic. Now I would like to try the creamed spinach butfresh spinach in my little town is very difficult to come by. How much of a 300g box of frozen chopped spinach would equal 24oz. of fresh spinach? Thank you. A new fan.

Fantastic side dish. ty Chef John.Here is how I solved 2 little problems someone else had too: To avoid major lumping, remove the pan from the heat before you pour the cold milk, lumps will form anyway but you keep whisking fast and they will dissolve.To reheat in a pan , on low ,just add a little bit of milk and keep stirring' it.

Hallo chef, I'm from Indonesia. I'm really glad i found u... First i watched your video through an app in my ipad..it's a good impression. Then watched several videos again then jumped to your website, read your profile... And found out that u are a great chef, no wonder your step by step video and the outcome is all great. And tonight i admire you more... I'm looking for this recipe quite long, asked my fellow chef but no one knows... So now, i know it and hopefully can cook it deliciously.. Thanks for all the sharing chef, may god bless you.

as much trouble as it took to make this it didn't turn out to be as delish as yours looks in video, I watched it 9 times.....mine was more like an elmer's glue sauce......and just took a long time from me hopping from grill outside (steaks) back to inside to stir while steaks went up in flames..sigh. I'm learning...

When you said put the spinach next to a window with a western exposure, what did you mean by that?? I live in NY and go back and forth a lot from NY to the Caribbean. So could you please tell me what you meant? I really love spinach and want to give this recipe a try. Looks great!

As always, was eagerly preparing this recipe when - yikes - the milk was bad. But thanks to you I had .... creme fraiche. I plopped a generous spoonful onto the spinach/onion ... dusted it with flour to thicken ... and voila ...yummy creamed spinach. LOVE your recipes, thank you so , and keep them coming !!!!!!

Take 1 tablespoon of the butter and melt in very large pan.Put the remainder of butter in a saucepan and leave to the side.Add the spinach to your 1 tablespoon of butter and simmer until it wilts down (approximately 3 minutes)As soon as it wilts down, QUICKLY put in a colander and let it drain away. While it’s draining, melt the rest of butter and add in the onion and the single clove. Once the onions are finished sautéing, remove the clove. It’s just for a hint of flavor.Now add garlic and flour to make a roux. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes.Remove from heat and gradually add in cold milk (starting with a quarter cup and then adding in the rest of the milk.)Bring up to simmer on medium heat and then turn down to low and cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally.Add salt and pepper and fresh ground nutmeg. Coarsely chop the spinach and then add to your warmed sauce. As soon as it heats through, it’s ready to serve.

I love your blog and your YouTube videos. You've given me the confidence to try some recipes I would never have attempted until I watched you make them. Everything always turns out great!

I was just wondering, Is it possible to freeze and reheat the creamed spinach without destroying it? We're having a big crowd over for grilled ribeye and I was looking for something out of the ordinary ( for me ) to serve as a side dish.

Thank you for your wonderful recipes and excellent instruction. You make cooking fun!

I just made this ahead for Thanksgiving side. I’m saving that healthy and slightly buttery juice strained from the spinach to add back into the creamed spinach when I reheat it. I know it will need a bit more liquid then, and that’s a good solution!

I just made this ahead for Thanksgiving side. I’m saving that healthy and slightly buttery juice strained from the spinach to add back into the creamed spinach when I reheat it. I know it will need a bit more liquid then, and that’s a good solution!

I just upped my creamed spinach game considerably. I had about 6 oz of marscarpone cheese left over from your Marscarpone Mashed Potato recipe. I made the roux with butter, onion, garlic, etc as normal with the addition of 1/4 cup of chopped cooked bacon. Added just enough milk to suspend everything (maybe 4-5 oz??) then melted and mixed in the marscarpone. Seasoned with black pepper, nutmeg, salt to taste. Once blended and heated through, and after adding spinach, I adjusted consistency with a bit more milk. I'm calling this "OMG! Creamed Spinach," 'cause that's just how it came out! JW